Picking Moving Heads

[Wood4321]

wow Maisell,
Thats completely opposite my experience.
I have more than 50 fixture on tour 45 weeks a year, and have yet to replace a single cover. Several have been kicked off the stage by performers, and still kept working.

 

[soundlight]

MAC101s are only good if you've got the distance to use them. I've tried to use them for shorter throw and I often get a lot of complaints about the LED intensity. Specifically the blue - it's ridiculously bright and ridiculously saturated. It actually states on the fixture that you're not supposed to look in to the LEDs at a distance of less than 24 feet. Not good for small to medium sized DJ stuff. However, as to the reliability, we have 48 units in rental stock and they've been to all sorts of gigs, including a huge number of music festivals, all over the east coast since their purchase a little over 2 years ago. I haven't had a single issue with a broken housing. My only problems are when people hang them straight out 90 degrees and the pan gets messed up when you run it in fast speed. Same issues with our inventory of over a hundred MAC Auras - same plastic makes up the housing. No issues with breakage, but we have had some pan issues from when we can only assume the fixtures were either A) not handled correctly or B) hung straight out (even though this is common practice, running lots of movement effects with the fixture hung straight out in fast P/T mode can cause pan damage in my experience and the experiences of several other companies/techs I know of).

MAC700s are great units, but they're huge for a DJ rig unless you're doing gigs regularly with 500-1000 people. They're very hard to hang by yourself and require some serious support. They also draw quite a bit of power. If it's more 100-250 people range, the Intimidator Spot LED 350s will be fine. If you're going to have haze and want some serious throw from units, also look at the Intimidator Beam LED 350. Same 75 watt LED, ridiculously bright beam for the power. We had one in for a demo and everyone was impressed.

 

[Wood4321]

MAC101s are only good if you've got the distance to use them. I've tried to use them for shorter throw and I often get a lot of complaints about the LED intensity. Specifically the blue - it's ridiculously bright and ridiculously saturated. It actually states on the fixture that you're not supposed to look in to the LEDs at a distance of less than 24 feet. Not good for small to medium sized DJ stuff. However, as to the reliability, we have 48 units in rental stock and they've been to all sorts of gigs, including a huge number of music festivals, all over the east coast since their purchase a little over 2 years ago. I haven't had a single issue with a broken housing. My only problems are when people hang them straight out 90 degrees and the pan gets messed up when you run it in fast speed. Same issues with our inventory of over a hundred MAC Auras - same plastic makes up the housing. No issues with breakage, but we have had some pan issues from when we can only assume the fixtures were either A) not handled correctly or B) hung straight out (even though this is common practice, running lots of movement effects with the fixture hung straight out in fast P/T mode can cause pan damage in my experience and the experiences of several other companies/techs I know of).

MAC700s are great units, but they're huge for a DJ rig unless you're doing gigs regularly with 500-1000 people. They're very hard to hang by yourself and require some serious support. They also draw quite a bit of power. If it's more 100-250 people range, the Intimidator Spot LED 350s will be fine. If you're going to have haze and want some serious throw from units, also look at the Intimidator Beam LED 350. Same 75 watt LED, ridiculously bright beam for the power. We had one in for a demo and everyone was impressed.

Good point about the intensity, although for a club setting I would likely try them with the frost kit and see if it worked for my application.
As for the mac 700's I agree about the size, and I would personally try to avoid discontinued fixtures.

 

[len]

1. What do your customers want?

2. What kind of power is available at a typical venue that you work?

3. What about other issues and limits, such as typical throw distance, etc.? If you're typically on a 12 x 20 stage with a 10' trim height, a 575 watt fixture would be too big, IMO.

4. Do you know your anticipated ROI? Spend $1,000 per fixture and rent them for $50 a night 5 times a year is pointless.